Friday night played out as well as the Padres could have possibly hoped for, as they beat the Marlins 8-2, and the Diamondbacks, Cubs and Phillies each lost as well, reducing the Padres' magic number to clinch a playoff berth to 4 and forcing a 3-way tie at the top of the wild card standings for homefield advantage in the wild card round with 8 games left to play. Agustin Ramirez's solo homer off Nick Pivetta in the 3rd inning gave Miami a 1-0 lead, but that wouldn't hold for very long. Fernando Tatis Jr. tied the game with a bases loaded RBI-single in the 5th inning, followed by a 2-run single from Dustin Harris and was capped off by a 3-run home run from Ty France to give the Padres a 6-1 lead, which proved to be plenty of cushion for the Padres. The Marlins added a run in the 8th, but Jackson Merrill immediately responded with a solo homer, and Samad Taylor drove in another run for good measure to give the Padres an 8-2 lead. The race for homefield advantage in the opening round of the playoffs will come down to the wire over the last week and a half of the season. Casey Mize will start for the Padres on Saturday.
You can watch the Jamul Casino Resort Padres Postgame Show below, with full highlights from the game and Craig Stammen's postgame press conference.
